Former President Kovind chairs first meeting of 'One Nation One Election' panel

The 'One Nation, One Poll' panel met in the national capital for the first time on Saturday and decided to invite leaders of national and recognised state parties to seek their views on holding simultaneous elections in the country.

The meeting was chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, who heads the panel. The meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, former Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh, former Secretary General of Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.

While senior advocate Harish Salve joined the meeting virtually, a formal statement said Congress party's leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, did not attend. Chowdhury had earlier written to Shah questioning the terms of reference and the absence of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, in the panel.

According to the statement, the panel said it outlined the modalities of the committee and decided to invite recognised national parties, parties having government in states, parties having their representatives in Parliament, and other recognised state parties to seek their suggestions/viewpoints on the issue of simultaneous elections in the country.

In addition, it said the Committee will also invite the Law Commission of India to make their suggestions/viewpoints on the issue.

The government, which announced the setting up of a panel in late August, had notified the formation of the committee on September 2, with eight members to examine and make recommendations at the earliest on the issue of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.

No timeline was given for the panel to outline its recommendations, but it has been asked to submit them "at the earliest".